No Photographs Allowed

Today is New Year's Day. For the most part it was quiet because we were on somewhat of a "holiday routine." I started my day off by sleeping in until 7am, and stayed in bed until 8. It was NICE!!! I got 10 hours of sleep...who says deployment is rough?

So I took my time getting around, went for a run to start the year off right, and a cold wind started blowing in. The wind kept coming, and by noon the temperature dropped 20 degrees and we had a dust storm on us. It wasn't a full blown storm, but extremely dusty with less than 1/4 mile visibility. It was an "orange out" kind of day. I didn't get any pictures today but figured I'd show you some of the things I'm probably not supposed to show you.

A photo of an area on base.

This is the kind of day we had once the dust cloud came in. Just another day at the south side dump. I'm almost finished with a project building two trash incinerators that will mitigate this open pit burning. Not popular, probably shouldn't have shown you that.

Here we have a photo of an abandoned MIG. They are everywhere, littering the base as a reminder of the base's former occupants.

An Iraqi toilet. Pretty nasty only because there's no pee-trap to keep the sewer gases from coming out of the sewer. It's just an old-timey squat hole. The hose is an advance on the traditional alternatives. There are some buildings that still have the old toilets. All my projects include updating to "western style" toilets. By "western" we mean they come with a 10 gallon hat and bottle of BBQ sauce!

I really miss everyone, and I enjoy hearing from you all. Feel free to drop me an email at travismortimer@gmail.com if you get the chance. I'll have more photos coming soon. Happy New Year, and I can't wait to come home.